As the September 10, 2016 governorship election in Edo State draws near, the Binis are confronted with the choice of a candidate among those on the field that would enhance their development and restore their pride. A diligent evaluation of the Binis vis-à-vis their socio – political environment would reveal that the Binis have been diminished in many ways.
The declining fortune of the Binis has its foundation in past actions, inactions and misjudgments. A brief history of Fulani expansionism is very instructive in this regard. The Uthman Dan Fodiyo jihad of 1804 was critical to the Fulani expansionism in Nigeria. Through aggressive propagation of Islam, flags of conquest were hoisted in towns like Yola, Jalingo , Kano, Katsina, Zaria, Bauchi, Bida, Lafia and Minna. Today, the Emirs of these towns are Fulanis. Consequently, the Fulanis had suzerainty over more than half of the Nigerian territory.
In contrast, the Binis under great kings like Ewuare the great (1440 –1473) and Esigie (1504 – 1550) extended the frontier of the kingdom to the Republic of Benin in the West and to Onitsha in the East. Lagos (Eko in Bini language meaning a camp) was annexed by Oba Orhogba. Omumu, a great Bini warrior who is my paternal great grandfather brought Yoruba towns like Akure, Ilara-Mokin, Igbara Oke, Idanre and Odogbolu under the lordship of the Oba of Benin.
Whereas the Fulanis left everlasting footprints in territories they conquered by way of the establishment of monarchies, the Binis did nothing of such. They ran home to celebrate victory without a shield. It is sad that today the great Benin Kingdom is now compromised to seven local government areas in Edo State.
The loss of Lagos agitated the minds of Binis (the late Oba David Akenzua, Chief Humprey Omo Osagie and Mr. Akintola Akpata) who were in Kings College, Lagos, between 1915 and 1919. Parapsychologist Okunzua, Pa Obahiagbon, Barrister S.Y.Eke, Dr. Christorher Okojie and Justice Festus Ekeruche, a non-Edo from Obiaruku, Delta State, who were Kings College students in the late 1920s and mid 1930s even contemplated how Lagos could be reclaimed. It was a wishful thinking coming too late.
Such omissions and misjudgments manifested in recent times. The first primary school in Edo and Delta states, Government School (founded in 1900) adjacent to the Oba market was demolished around 1974 to give way for a state library which is yet to be built till this day. The ancient and magnificent buildings bequeathed by the British are now lost forever. In the same manner, Edo College, Be
nin, the first secondary school in Edo and Delta states (founded in 1937) was relocated from a level and expansive land in 1972 to a hill bounded by the Benin moat.
The buildings are now hemmed between the main road and the moat with no space for expansion. The antiquity and the tourism value of the school were not given a consideration. Inverted reasoning was in display.
The golden question is why should the Binis allow their kingdom to slide in a downward trajectory? The kingdom’s glorious fortune on a consistent basis is being degraded and turned to gloom. This should agitate sensitive and informed minds. It is mind boggling that the Binis, for a long period, have not recorded significant progress even when their own son was at the helm of affairs in Edo State.
It is painful that 21st Century Bini land is so rural that one would be compelled to question if the great attainments of the Binis in many aspects of human endeavor, many years ago, are true. These were the people who welcomed the first Europeans (Portuguese) in Nigeria in 1485. Is it the same kingdom whose craftsmen organized into different guilds produced ornate bronze casting, wood carvings and Ivory work highly sought for all over the world?
The Binis have abandoned their villages. Benin–City is all in all. How many Binis know that that there are Bini villages like Evbuku, Umelu, Utezi, Ulegun, Ekosa, Oriokpa, Avbiama and Uholo? Bini villages are crumbling and are so rural that they are best described as farm settlements. They pale into insignificance when compared to towns and villages in the two other Senatorial Districts that are built up. There are some modern houses in Uromi and Ekpoma villages that are yet to find a place in Benin–City. It is difficult seeing a Bini man leaving Benin–City for his village with his family for Christmas.
Apart from the Lagos–Benin road terminating at Akpakpava Street and the Benin– Sapele road terminating at the ring road, entering Benin–City through other roads is a nightmare. It is pertinent to mention that these are federal roads. You will ride on roads half covered by silt if you enter Benin from Auchi, Siluko, Owo and Asaba. The roads are poorly drained and cratered. In the rainy season, about 60% of the roads in Benin are marshlands. The most pathetic is the Benin GRA.
In contrast, a visit to Calabar shows that there there is hardly a road not tarred in the city. It is beautifully laid out and the roads are hedged with trees. Calabar, which is as neat as Paris, has the cleanest pipe borne water in Nigeria. I also don’t know where Gov. Sullivan Chime got the funds to transform this town.
Jacobs writes from Abuja